Whether it is a serial in a regional satellite channel or a One Day International cricket match, there is a non-stop stream of advertisements, which clutter the commercial break. Well-established brands attempt to sustain brand recall while new ones try appealing to prospective consumers to get into their `consideration’ set. There are ads for children, housewives and youth. With advertising expenditure in the order of Rs. 8000 Crores per annum in the recent times and the proliferation of brands across categories, there is a strong need to consider the effectiveness of these advertisements. The idea is not to cease advertising but to consider how considering decisions would have to be considered with non-advertising alternatives. These non-advertising alternatives may also enable a brand to create and sustain consistent associations, which may be desirable in terms of long-term implications. A contemporary approach that creates a synergy between various aspects of a promotional mix (advertising included) provides a refreshing approach towards marketing communications. There may be several objectives of advertising and a promotional mix could be used in an innovative manner to address each of these objectives depending on the product category and target segment.
Creating brand awareness
When a new brand enters a category or creates a “new to the market” offering, it needs to create brand awareness. This would depend on whether the product is a consumable or a durable. The involvement level in a specific category also matters on how a brand would want to create awareness. Itch Guard, a new branded offering for minor skin problems, used a simple humorous TV commercial to convey the concept. While the unit cost of the product may be low, the involvement level of the consumer on the solution offered by the brand could be associated with high involvement. A brand in this situation is likely to also benefit from point of purchase material at pharmacy outlets, departmental stores and even kirana (grocery) type of shops. The “high-utility” solution has to be conveyed to the target segment, which probably was using traditional substitutes. In this example, a typical brand personality need not be built at least before the benefit is sold to the consumer and hence all promotional efforts should be directed at conveying the benefit and creating a brand association with the category itself (as it is a pioneering brand in the category). This objective would be achieved by advertising, “reminder purchase” posters at the point of sale and perhaps conveying the superiority of the offering through the route of doctors (though it is an OTC offering).
Kissan Bistix in contrast is a unique offering, which is aimed at children who have to initially make a change in their habits regarding the consumption of this offering (should be eaten with a biscuit stick after it is dipped in chocolate/any other side dish flavour which is a part of the package). Moreover the price of the offering is Rs. 5 and this would be associated with low involvement. Moreover, there is strong presence of generic competition and children could buy a number of alternatives and some of them may have price points below the Rs. 5 level. Mass advertising perhaps could create trials but it may be difficult to sustain the purchase only through advertising. Innovative contests built around popular hobbies may enable the brand not only to create excitement but also sustain the interest over a longer period of time. This may create repurchase and probably a cross-section of the segment may make the consumption a part of their snacking habit. Acceptance of an offering like this requires a longer time interval and an innovative approach towards promotion rather than typical sales promotion or mass advertising or display at the counter of retail outlets. Besides, given the price point and the offering there is also a need to be selective in market coverage for the offering.
Creating awareness in a durable category (even if the consumers are familiar with the category) requires a different approach. A strong “feature-back up” in the offering, leading to a possible word-of-mouth from users of the brand, will be effective after the initial advertising awareness created by the brand. LG, Samsung, Santro and Whirlpool are brands that have been successful but less than a decade old in the Indian context. LG introduced several “new to market” features in its various product categories; Samsung which created brand awareness through its “World Series” ads, also introduced innovative features in its products and Santro’s success (in terms of its market share) can be attributed to product design, advertising and launching of variants after brand acceptance. New brands depend on innovative features to create awareness and this happens both by advertising and positive word-of-mouth. Promotional aspects like an event involving the brand formulated to strengthen the word-of-mouth could add to the promotional effect. This approach could be compared with the advertising blitzkreig of several new brands of cars. Skoda, almost an unknown name in India, has been able to meet with considerable success (in its niche) because of word-of-mouth for its Octovia model than through conventional advertising. The brand has also been selective in its market launch and this adds to the “expectation excitement” for prospective consumers in other markets to enhance the impact of word-of-mouth.

Concept Selling
When an offering is a durable and new to market, it poses a challenge to the company. The product may be a good one but the initial concept selling plays a vital role in the diffusion of the product. Advertising has to be used in conjunction with retail demonstration wherever it is appropriate. TV could be used for creating awareness of the category but print advertisements are required to address the differing perceptions of consumers about the risks and value associated with a new offering. The low penetration of rice-cooker may make an interesting case study. How should the offering be positioned especially when in the urban context gas stoves have a high degree of penetration? Would the device be useful for cooking menu other than rice? What is the perception of the target consumer? Or is it worthwhile to position the offering effectively only as an occasion based household device? How could demonstration be used to change the negative perception of consumers? Should all retail outlets be used or only specific retail outlets in an area be used? How does the usage cost compare with substitutes? As it can be observed, these dimensions require a mix of promotional decisions.
There is a need to differentiate between primary and secondary advertising while selling product concepts. Primary advertising sells the concept while secondary advertising highlights the features of the brand. It may be difficult to generalise how a firm should link these two kinds of advertising. There is a need to consider the product/market situation before such discussions are taken. When a brand has a competitive advantage in terms of time (first entry) it could sequence the two kinds of advertising effectively. When washing machines were introduced in India (even now the penetration of washing machines is not high) fifteen years back, Videocon used a very effective primary advertising to sell the concept and create awareness about the category. “It washes, rinses and dries” was the message and slowly over a period of time the brand added features that were very specific to the brand. Later competitive brands were launched in the category.
The situation becomes complex when a number of brands start introducing their offerings at the same period of time. The category of quartz watches provides such an example. HMT made an attempt to sell the concept during the initial stages when the category was introduced. Titan, which has a huge chunk of the category, took a major initiative not only to build its brand but also to sell the concept of quartz watches. Besides there were also a number of offerings from the unorganised or assembled sector which offered low-price points at the lower end of the market. In a situation like this, the pioneering brand or any brand, which builds itself quickly stands to gain. This is because consumers become familiar with the category within a short time, especially when prices come down rapidly. Besides, such quick diffusion is also enhanced by the fact that the category is a necessity item rather than a luxury. There is also the element of social visibility associated with the category. Hence for a national brand, mass advertising is a pre-requisite, provided it is supported by the other elements of the marketing mix.

Differentiation
Advertisements convey brand differentiation and this may be important in several categories, which consist of several brands. In FMCG products like tea, coffee and detergents, “differentiation awareness” can be created by television advertising, but in certain categories there may be a need to demonstrate the effectiveness of brands. Differentiation with which consumers cannot “connect” may have a negative implication and if a brand “connects” consumers with its differentiation, it is likely to also differentiate itself in terms of getting identified with the consumer. A detergent or a washing machine, which claims “low water consumption” has to demonstrate this claim at a retail outlet especially given the fact that the quality of water varies across areas even in a specific geographical region. It is also essential that a good “differentiation proposition” result in a positive word-of-mouth.
In a certain situation, the company may have two offerings in a product-line and there is a need to differentiate them clearly depending on the target segments involved. This is a complex situation where differentiation decides the growth of the brand and the perceived difference between the offerings. An added layer to the complexity is the same brand name being used for the offerings. Fairness cream is a category in which the benefit is the fairness of the complexion. A brand like Fair and Lovely built over the years still has a strong association with the category but under tremendous pressure from competitive brands and the most important criteria which these brands is the herbal touch associated with them. Herbal ingredients are becoming popular with consumers in several categories and personal care in India has a strong tradition of herbal care. Fair and Lovely had to launch its herbal variant (it used the same brand probably because of the brand equity built up over the years). The interesting fact is the differentiation being conveyed by advertising. The original version uses an aspirational route in which the brand’s ultimate benefit is success through confidence. The girl in the advertisement becomes a cricket commentator based on the confidence built up by the usage of the product. The herbal variant’s advertising has a strong focus on the traditional product benefit - facial complexion that appeals to youth. The nature of the models chosen are different and the ultimate brand benefit is “conveyed’ to be different (though any fairness cream is supposed to be associated with fairness). From an explicit benefit associated with the category (fairness) the advertising differentiation carries the variants of the brand to a different plane of differentiation. The differentiation also suggests typical “consumer types” who may be drawn towards the respective variants. Goodlass Nerolac in its recent advertising campaign for decorative paints, which uses Amitabh Bachchan, has a focus on imagery - joggers, housewives and children who have a positive attitude towards the celebrity.
Marketing communication is an area, which offers a high potential to brands to analyse the utility of several promotional inputs.